July 5

Leslie Johnson Presentation

July 5, 2011

This morning we went to city hall to meet with several municipal leaders at Mariestad’s City Hall. Before we entered the building we were all surprised to see our faces on the front page of the Mariestad newspaper. After a few cups of coffee, we heard a presentation from a number of city representatives, including members from the Majority and Opposition parties, the chief city architect, and Maria Hendriksonn. At around 12, we made our way back to city artlab where we all picked out our bicycles that were kindly provided to us by the city. After a lunch break, we returned to city artlab to discuss an article written by Martha Rosler, facilitated wonderfully by visiting lecturer, Matthew Rana. Our conversation centered around the inevitability of neighborhood gentrification, whether or not it is a problem that the artist is internalized in our corporate capitalist structure, and whether or not the graffiti project was successful. The conversation lasted until roughly four o’clock, at which point those artists involved in the mural project met to discuss the logistics of prepping the 150-foot wall. At six, we all gathered at the city artlab and heard Leslie Johnson deliver a very fascinating presentation on her artwork and works that she thought would inspire us. After Leslie, we heard from members of the Y Gallery in Minsk about their young history, Belarusian contemporary art, and the political situation in Belarus.

Ben Gottesman

July 5, 2011

The day began at 10am with a two-hour session discussing Martha Rosler’s critical piece, Culture Class: Art, Creativity, Urbanism, Part II. The beginning part of this discussion was led by Matt Rana, a former graduate of the California College of the Arts department of Visual and Critical Studies. His lecture presented us with an analysis of Rosler’s theories (and observations) about “the culture class”, among other urban conundrums in the midst of re-evaluating the artist’s role in the city. We then broke into discussion groups and debated both the text and Rana’s interpretation, as well as how the ideals discussed in the piece might apply to our role as visiting artists in Mariestad. Later in the evening we attended a lecture by Leslie Johnson, the president of the Valand School of Art in Gothenberg, as well as the directors of the Y Gallery in Minsk. The most striking aspect of this day—in my personal observation—was the tremendous presence of the [international] female voice and how wonderfully it was both expressed and interpreted. 

Stephanie Jane Halmos.

July 4

July 4, 2011

We met at the Mariestad Library and had a brief introduction to the history of the building and the library’s current activities. We were shown the city’s impressive image archive and map collection. Some students got library cards and began their research. Students who were interested in the mural project met with artist Sophy Naess. They visited the wall, met with Carolina Falkholt and had a skype call with Mason Nye, the project leader, at his home in NYC. That evening, CityArtLab had its opening exhibition. A huge crowd of people came for the event, which focused on last summer’s successful Graffiti Project led by artist Carolina Falkholt. Irina Anufrieva, a Shaping the City participant, did an arresting performance in the exhibition space. Linda Svensson, the culture secretary of Mariestad, donated her car to be covered in graffiti by exhibition visitors. Students and residents young and old contributed to the spray-fest, transforming her car. The event, and her car, were featured prominently in the newspaper the next day!

The Wall

July 3

July 3, 2011

After spending almost 48 consecutive hours together, it was enlightening to sit down and learn about the work everyone was making and why they came to Mariestad. We sat in a circular shape in the upstairs kitchen of the building most of us are living in and listened to each others interests, which felt like an official start to our stay. People come from a variety of backgrounds, so it will be interesting to see what is produced.

Simone Bailey

Map Project

These are the students submissions to the map-project they were assigned.

July 1 & July 2

July 1, 2011

The students arrive!

From the train station, we walk to Gothenburg University for a delicious lunch hosted by the city. Maria Henriksson gives us an official welcome, explaining how excited the city officials are to have the students here and how they are looking forward to the projects they make during their stay. The group gets their calendar for the month and Amanda walks them through the expectations and requirements for the next week. Students are assigned a room and we walk up to their lodging in Johannesburg. The students head to ICA (the nearest grocery store) and settle into their temporary home.

July 2, 2011

This was the second day in Mariestad and the first day of classes. At 10 am we met at the Vadsbo Museum where we had a tour and got basic information about the city and its history. We found out that Mariestad had several really important industries: a fabric factory in the 19th century and then the paper factory, Electrolux and Unico production in the middle of the 20th century. We visited an art exhibition in the museum showing a collection of regional crafts. After lunch we had a discussion about Lucy Lippard’ s article “ On and Off the Map,” about mapping and geography. We were given an assignment to make our own maps charting something that couldn’ t be found on a map. There was also a short introduction to the upcoming mural project by Sophy Naess. In the evening we had our first picnic at the lake. Everyone brought delicious food, and Johan played the mandolin. That was really exiting!